NEW Musical Fidelity DAC

After much research, talking to audiophiles and reading this thread, my better half and I took the plunge and auditioned the Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC at San Francisco Stereo. The A3 DAC we auditioned was placed in a Musical Fidelity ensemble comprising of the A3 CD player, A3CR preamp with an A300 amplifier driving a nice pair of BW 802 loudspeakers. All interconnects and cables used were Tara Labs. According to the salesperson the A3-24 we auditioned wasn’t fully broken in yet but the unit commanded an inspiring performance with every CD we had brought to feed it. In fact, we caught ourselves giving each other that “knowing look” during playback of tracks with those well known musical passages. After an hour of listening to our familiar CD tracks we compared notes to confirm that we had both heard musical detail and harmonics at a level we were not accustomed to. Additionally, the A3-24 DAC is a handsome, well constructed and finished unit that received more than a passing two thumbs up in the all important WAF rating. One noteworthy point is that the button for switching between 96kHz and 192kHz upsampling is located in the back of the unit. This isn’t a problem for me as my audio rack allows for easy access to this button. Others with limited access to the back their components should take note. We were duly impressed so I purchased a new unit and we had it home and up and running within an hour or so

Our current system is an Anthem CD-1 player serving as the transport. The Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC feeds a Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamp. Loudspeakers are the passive cross-over version of Innersounds' Eros amplified by Wolcott P-220 monoblocks. All interconnects are Nordost Red Dawn and speaker cables are Kimber Bi-Focal XLs.

Straight out of the box, the A3-24 exhibited a prodigious amount of base and high end detail coupled with a notable level of midrange suck out. We left the unit to play for the remainder of the afternoon and eight hours later returned to our listening room to find that the sound had significantly improved. The midrange had returned and the sound across the musical spectrum, while still a bit bottom heavy, was generally well balanced. With wine in hand, we both settled in for a two hour audition. This DAC renders an extremely detailed soundstage. Imaging was excellent with notably more air and 3D sound stage separation and layering between vocals and musical instruments. This really fleshed out and accented harmonic detail across the audio soundstage and rendered an excitingly enjoyable listening experience. On the down side, there was a trace of digital edge in the upper registers along with a notable loss of sweetness and liquidity compared to the Anthem CD-1 with its’ tube output stage. However, we both felt that the significant clarity in detail and soundstage outweighed the tradeoff of sweetness. Besides, after only eight hours the best was sure to come. We ended the evening by declaring victory and toasting the Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC. We decided to let the unit play all night and revisit the DAC in the afternoon for a second audition.

24 hours later and after an hour of listening I can, without any reservation, say that the Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC is just a great piece of audio gear. Holy cow! Midrange warmth and balance, soundstage presentation and overall detail are just superb! For the money, I can’t think of any upgrade I have done that has had such a dramatic impact on my system as this DAC. I don’t know if this DAC belongs in Stereophiles’ Class A component listing or if it got there by a disingenuous review. I do disagree with Sam Tellig as he said he found the Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC to sound better with Sony transports using the 96kHz up-sampling. The Anthem CD-1 uses a Sony transport and to date the 192 kHz up-sampling sounds much better to me. I do know that through the years I have found Sam Tellig to be pretty close on target. I also know that this DAC has elevated CD playback to new heights in my system. It is just outstanding! If you are looking to upgrade your digital front end for CD play back, I think the Musical Fidelity A3-24 is a serious contender, worthy of your consideration and time to audition.

Regards;
-Jerie

Thanks for your post Megasam and I agree with you all the way around. I considered the Bel Canto DAC 2 but I chose the Musical Fidelity product offing based on the fact that I live in the Bay Area and San Francisco Stereo is an authorized Musical Fidelity dealer. They had the unit in stock and I could audition it. That was critical to me. Additionally, they offered a no cost extended warranty on the A3-24. After reading Telligs’ review, this thread and considering this unit is manufactured “across the pond”, having a brick and mortar establishment I could take the unit to if I experienced a problem seemed like a good idea. Moreover, San Francisco Stereo offers a generous trade-in upgrade policy should I decide to purchase a newer piece of gear down the road. Let’s face it, after a year or two, some DACs tend to end up in the infamous audio closet bone yard or serve as bookends, door stops and god know what else. I also felt that the Bel Canto DAC 2 had all of the good looks of an adobe brick. To me, it looks cheaply made. That doesn’t mean that it is and like my mother always told me, there is no accounting for taste. And speaking of taste. One thing that stuck me oddly on the A3-24 was that the up-sample switching button is located on the back of the unit. The Brits never cease to amaze me.

I don’t know enough about digital workings to understand the benefits of up-sampling at 96kHz rather than 192kHz. Most of this digital science is beyond me. I just trust my ears as at my age, they are one of the few remaining body parts that still work!

Last point of interest. After auditioning the MF DAC, my better half and I were commenting on what a sweet system the MF A series of gear was. The salesperson who helped us audition the Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC said that his system at home was identical to the set up we had just listened to. It really sounded nice.